


The Director's Wife

by FortitudeSakura



Series: Through Their Eyes [1]
Category: Final Fantasy XIII, Final Fantasy XIII Series, Final Fantasy XIII-2, Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII
Genre: F/M, Fluffy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-23
Updated: 2018-08-23
Packaged: 2019-07-01 12:12:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,048
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15773883
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FortitudeSakura/pseuds/FortitudeSakura
Summary: Anyone with eyes could see how madly in love Director Estheim was with his wife.





	The Director's Wife

Anyone with eyes could see how madly in love Director Estheim was with his wife. It wasn’t that he would openly brag about her or her achievements (which for anyone who recognised her name would be well aware of). Rather it was how his face would light up whenever he mentioned her and that she was the only reason he would leave his office outside of his usual working hours. Everyone at the Academy knew his wife was back in town because he would leave to have dinner with her at a respectable hour.

You’ve taken some leave so that you can visit your family a few towns away. However, you realise that morning that you’ve taken some important Academy research documents home and that your fellow researchers wouldn’t be too pleased to be without them for a week. Technically they’re Director Estheim’s research notes so you decide to return them to the Director himself.

Like many of the other female employees at the Academy, you’ve developed a crush on the handsome young director. While you’d never act upon your crush on the director, it always made your day better when you caught a glimpse of him.

You hurry into the office to drop the notes off. He calls for you to come in when you knock on his door gently even though the door is wide open (Director Estheim has an open door policy but it doesn’t stop you from being polite).

“Thank you for letting me read your notes, Director. Here.” you say as you set the folder on his desk.

His desk is clean and neat. Folders were stacked neatly and everything is in its place - unlike other researchers whose desks were more like bomb sites of coffee, papers and various bits of hardware. The only thing that wasn’t clearly for work was a little crystal rose sculpture that sat below his computer monitor.

“Ah, thanks! Wait, what are you doing in the office? Aren’t you supposed to be on leave?” he asks.

Ask any Academy employee about what they like about the Director and the answer you’ll most commonly get isn’t praise for the Director’s intellect or his research (although those two facets of him were quite brilliant), but rather his personable and warm character.

“Oh, yeah but I figured you might have liked the notes back before the end of my leave.” you smile.

He laughs and brushes his hands through his silvery hair. You doubt he spends much time on his hair, but you often wonder how on earth his hair is always just the perfect degree of tousled? 

“I’m not in a hurry for the notes. What do you have planned for your week of leave?” he asks as he stands and starts to pack his briefcase.

“Oh,” you say, slightly startled, “I’m taking the train down to visit my family in Camden.”

“What time is your train?”

“11:30.”

“I’m picking my wife up from the station at 11:00. How about I give you a lift to the station?” he offers, picking up his briefcase and slinging his suit jacket over his arm.

“U-um, sure. If that’s o-okay!” you stammer.

He laughs again, “I offered didn’t I? Would you mind if I make a quick detour on our way to the train station?”

“Sure.” you say, as your heart skips a few beats. You hope that the warmth you feel in your face doesn’t show quite nearly as much as you feel it.

The car the Director drives is of a luxury make but it’s a surprisingly sensible saloon model. It has soft leather seats the colour of cream and a fancy navigation system with bluetooth connectivity (which plays some contemporary classical music which the Director hums along to).

Your somewhat wild imagination has always pictured Director Estheim in a sporty coupe, however now that you think about it, he would probably never drive a car like that. 

His aforementioned detour is to a florist - one that you recognise to be quite an expensive florist, the kind that you see tagged in humble brag social media posts. He comes out with a modest bouquet of red roses, wrapped in thick black paper and cream coloured netting.

“For your wife?” you ask, knowing the answer but you ask anyway.

“Yeah,” he smiles sheepishly as a blush colours his cheeks, “I buy them for her every time she comes home from her overseas assignments.”

The drive to the station consists of work chat and the Director asks you about your new project. You talk animatedly, excited because the project is truly interesting as it could answer the question of whether reincarnation truly exists. Before you know it, Director Estheim pulls into the train station.

“Thanks for the ride, Director.” you say before you make your way to the platform.

“It was no problem. Have a great time with your family.” he says as he waves you off.

From where you sit on the platform you can see the Director leaning against the side of his car, holding the bouquet of roses. He’s eagerly watching the arrival board.

A few minutes later a train pulls in on the opposite side and you see her, the Director’s wife. You recognise her immediately of course. It’s hard to miss a head of pink hair in a crowd. The signature blossom coloured tresses that were splashed all over the magazines.

You watch her as she makes her way to the station entrance and you see Director Estheim’s face break into a huge smile. He pulls her into a tight embrace so quickly that she drops the small suitcase she was carrying. He does this despite the fact that people have recognised his model wife and have pulled out their phones to take pictures and record videos to send on PicChat. When he pulls away, he presents her with the bouquet of flowers and you hear the cooing of the crowd gathering around them. He picks up her suitcase and opens the passenger side door for his wife before getting in himself and driving away.

You sigh happily after witnessing this exchange between the Director and his wife and hope that someday someone will look at you the way that Hope Estheim looks at Lightning Farron.


End file.
